


Imaginary Friends

by Jet_Set_Yoyo



Series: Original Work Shorts/Scenes [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Female Protagonist, Magic, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Portals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 22:45:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19094563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jet_Set_Yoyo/pseuds/Jet_Set_Yoyo
Summary: Riley Strelling is an imaginative child.Since she could remember, vivid dreams of people and places she had never heard of filled her head at night. During the day she would transfer them onto paper. Her mother was convinced she had a wild imagination and a vast array of imaginary friends to make up for the lack of real ones. Riley almost started to believe her.





	Imaginary Friends

The spring day was overcast; gray clouds skittered across the sky threatening to unleash the liquid they held at any given moment over a small suburban town. A three-story apartment sat on a dead end road and inside only a few occupants were home in the middle of the afternoon; a mother and her two children on the second floor.

One of the children was only a toddler, playing innocently with colorful toys in the living room while his mother washed dishes in the kitchen. The other child was holed up in her room, much too old to be playing with baby toys. She laid on her stomach on the floor surrounded by a sea of drawings, colored pencils, and crayons. In front of her was a pad of paper with a half finished picture that she scribbled at meticulously. She hummed a soft tune to herself, swaying her head back and forth to her own out of tune melody.

“Riley, you’re awfully quiet in there. What are you up to,” called her mother, still scrubbing at the dishes from the kitchen. When no answer came she spoke a bit louder, “Riley? What are you doing?”

“Drawing, Mom,” Riley shouted back, retrieving the pencil as it rolled away from her. Her concentration was broken by the interruption and she huffed to herself.

“Ok baby. I’m going to start dinner in a little while.”

“Mm’kay!”

Riley returned to her drawing, holding up the pad to inspect her work. She furrowed her brow, scrunching up her nose in disgust and dropped the pad back on the floor. In a flurry of furious motion, she rubbed away the drawing before tossing the eraser in frustration with a loud sigh. Rolling over to face the ceiling the girl closed her eyes. If she tried hard enough she could picture exactly what it was she wanted to draw; it was too bad her fingers wouldn’t cooperate. She allowed her mind to swirl the scene of her previous night's dream behind her eyelids. The people blinked into existence, chattering loudly though she could make out no actual words. Most of them were unfamiliar; generic faces in a sea of people. A small handful she recognized as reoccurring residents of her dreamworld and she grinned. Suddenly from beneath her, the ground gave way.

Snapping her eyes back open, the ceiling was no longer above her. Instead her eyes met an open blue sky. With widened eyes, terror hit the scrawny eight-year-old as her heart leapt into her throat stifling her scream before it could escape. The world went black just as suddenly accompanied by an impact that knocked the breath from her; she collided with the roof of a large castle, immediately losing consciousness as she broke through into the room below.

The occupants below all yelped with fright, scrambling from their chairs. A few toppled over in their panic. Giant ornate doors slammed open and a half dozen sword-wielding soldiers rushed the room, searching for the cause of their nobles' fear. The commander of the guard stood tall beside a regal woman. He reached for the sword on his hilt only for the Queen to stop him with a raise of her hand from her seat at the head of what once was a table. The other nobels whispered among themselves frantically, some still huddled on the ground.

“Guren, it is a child,” the Queen spoke calmly, rising from her seat to inspect the unconscious girl in the pile of broken shingles and splintered wood that used to be a table and part of the roof. “Take her to a med-pod immediately. She is alive but gravely injured.”

“Queen,” came a chorus of objection, both from the Commander and the others occupying the room.

“That is an order, Guren,” the Queen insisted firmly, ignoring the rest of them as she locked eyes with the dark-haired man.

“Yes Ma’am."

Securing the child carefully, noting a number of broken bones immediately, the man called Guren disappeared from the meeting hall and into the bowels of the castle leaving the room of royalty to their whispering. The rest of the soldiers tightened their guard, reluctant to leave the Queen unattended. An unassuming door made way to a large white room and the smell of anti-septic filled Guren’s nostrils making him cringe. He loathed this room. The smell was by far the worst part of it. A few doctors and nurses were on standby, loitering around the room casually as they currently had no patients to fuss over. The room burst to life as he entered.

“Set her in there gently, we need to assess the damage immediately,” barked one of the doctors, immune to the imposing nature of the commander. A series of pod-like machines were lined up in a row on one side of the room. The other was lined with normal beds. The glass door of the closest pod opened automatically and folded upwards. Guren set the child down inside and stepped away, allowing the pod to close itself. The machine whirred to life; blinking and beeping as it began to scan its occupant. A screen on the outside relayed pertinent information as it became available; heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygen level all popped up quickly. Blood type, age, height and weight followed seconds after. Guren scowled at it briefly before turning to the doctor in charge.

Minutes later the doctors were all staring at the hologram screen emitted from a watch-like device on their wrists; an assessment of the child’s injuries. They relaxed as nothing else was necessary on their end; the injuries weren’t that bad somehow. The pod continued to whir and beep as it began administering pain medication, resetting bones, stitching wounds, and bandaging cuts on its own. Small metal arms did the grunt work, leaving the doctors to chatter.

“Better vaccinate her as well. We don’t know how long she’s been here,” Guren piped up gruffly, watching the machine do it’s work with disinterest.

“Yes of course Commander,” replied one of the doctors who then motioned for a nurse to go program the pod. “How did this happen? She’s not one of yours?”

“No. She fell through the roof of the castle, nearly landed in Queen Reina’s lap.”

“It’s a miracle she’s alive. Such a tiny thing, can’t be older than ten at best? It’s a surprise that these are the only injuries she sustained; unless she used her magic to lighten the fall? I’m sure that went over well with the other royals.”

“They are promptly shitting themselves. The Queen will handle them, I’ll be waiting for this brat to wake up.”

“What nation would send a pup into enemy territory? On a treaty day no less. Every noble on the continent is here.”

“A smart one; knowing the Queen’s particular softness for small and cute things. Though I assumed only we were privy to that knowledge. Even more so since all of the nobles are present,” Guren sighed tiredly. It was bad enough that he had to sit through all the political nonsense. He would have been glad for the distraction if not for the added aggravation all of this meant. “Speculation will get us nowhere; the brat will spill her guts when she wakes.”

“Figuratively, I hope. I’d hate to have to fix that.”

“If it comes to that, you won’t need to.”

 

Riley opened her eyes, squeezing them back shut as the harsh light hurt her eyes. She squinted, trying to adjust to the brightness when panic set in. She sat up quickly, reeling as her head spun from the sudden movement. She looked around the room that was clearly not her own just as soon as she could keep her eyes open. In fact it looked quite like the oddest hospital she had ever seen; across from her was a bed encased in glass. To her it looked like a spaceship and she scrunched her nose at it. _Why am I in a hospital? Where’s Mama?_

“Mama? Daddy? Hello? Is anyone there,” she called out tentatively, surveying the rest of the room. No one replied and the room was deserted save for the various equipment and empty beds, plus more of the spaceships. She was alone. Slipping off the bed, the small girl made a beeline for what she assumed was the door. There wasn’t a doorknob but it was different from the walls. She frowned before deciding to knock on it, hoping someone would hear her from the other side. “Mama! Somebody! I’m stuck, please help!”

Her quickening breaths turned to hiccuping sobs as tears welled up in her eyes and panic set in. _I’m locked in! What’s going on? Mama, help! Mama!_ She rubbed at them furiously, trying to calm down but it wasn’t working. _I wanna go home! Help! Mama, Mama!_ Her sobs tapered off into sniffles eventually as the panic quelled; she wouldn’t get out of here by crying, she decided, and no one was coming to rescue her.

Riley peered around the room, wondering if there was a telephone she could use. She only knew three numbers; her house, her grandmother, and 911 but surely someone could find her Mom for her. _Mama said 911 would help if I was in trouble..._ To her dismay there didn’t seem to be one. It was back to the drawing board then.

 _Maybe in a drawer?_ Riley thought, shuffling over to the closest cabinet and rifling through its contents before moving to the next one. After a few turned up nothing the door to the room slid open startling the girl into dropping the clipboard she had just picked up off the counter. She turned, hoping it would be her Mom but it wasn’t.

Guren stepped in the hospital room, watching the brat snoop through the drawers before jumping in fright at being caught. For a moment she looked hopeful before the look in her eyes became guarded and withdrawn. He only furrowed his brow further at her.

“Come, the Queen would like to speak to you,” he instructed simply, one hand on the hilt of his sword. Intimidation should have worked in forcing the child to obey without trouble he figured.

“Q-queen,” Riley spluttered back, eyes widening in confusion. Before Guren could get in another word she quick-shot a barrage of questions back at him, “Where’s my Mom? Why am I in the hospital? How come there’s a Queen here? Are you a doctor? Why do you have a sword?”

“Are you deaf or just stupid? Let’s go, now. The Queen will speak to you. Until then shut your mouth,” Guren all but snarled at the scrawny girl.

Riley shrunk back at the man’s callous words, nearly cowering behind the bed that separated them. She almost wanted to dive underneath it but that would have put them closer. Torn between following the man and listening to her instinct, she faltered. _Mom said not to go with strangers. He doesn’t look like a Doctor. But...a Queen? And he’s got a big sword!_

“I’m not going to say it again brat! Move it or I’ll slice off your legs and drag the rest of you there,” Guren growled, startling the girl from her thoughts. Her lip quivered, hands clenched the hem of her shirt tightly as she stepped around the bed, keeping a bit of distance between them. _If she cries I swear I’m going to lose it. Damn it Reina, I hate children._ Guren cursed inwardly before turning on his heel and leading the way through the castle halls.

Riley trailed after him keeping few paces behind if only to make herself feel better. Her eyes darted this way and that, trying to take in the grand displays adorning the walls. She snuck a few wary glances back at the dark-haired man in front of her. He hadn’t bothered to look back at her, marching ahead with long strides that made her scramble to keep up. _Maybe I could run for it? Mama has to be here somewhere, right? Did I get kidnapped?_

“In.”

Riley blinked, wondering when the man had stopped walking. Had she not kept some distance between them she would have run smack into him. Just ahead of them was a large ornate door gilded in gold and various expensive-looking gemstones. Dumbly she muttered back, “Eh?”

“Get. In.” Guren replied, before grabbing the girl by her collar and dragging her inside the room. Riley yelped, wriggling in his grasp and prying at his fingers until she was promptly dropped on a deep purple carpet in the middle of the hall. A huge chair sat atop a half flight of stairs and was adorned just as expensively as the door was. In it sat a woman who was sending Guren a disapproving glare before smiling at her. Riley stood up, taking in everything with an incredulous stare. Her mouth fell open, then shut, then opened once more. _A real Queen? Am I s’posed to bow?_ _She dropped her gaze as the panic crept back in._

“What is your name, child,” the woman interrupted Riley’s internal debate, her voice was soft but commanding and caused the girl to jump.

“Um, Riley Strelling. Um, Ma’am.” Riley fiddled with the hem of her shirt nervously avoiding meeting the woman’s eyes.

“How did you get here Riley?”

“I, uh, I...” Riley struggled, fumbling through her words. _What am I s’posed to do? Am I in trouble? Where’s Mama?_ Between the regal woman in front of her and the sword-wielding man behind her she was flustered and her brain mashed her thoughts into a tangled mess. “Dunno. I was in my room and then all of a sudden I was falling but I can’t remember nothin’ else. I woke up in a hospital and he’s mad at me. I’m really confused. Did my house break ‘cause I threw my eraser? Am I in trouble?”

“Ah, I see. So then you wouldn’t have any motive here. I don’t believe anything happened to your house. Do you remember anything else Riley,” Reina could see the distress on the child’s face but getting to the bottom of the intrusion came first. Last she checked children didn’t fly and she wouldn’t put it past some of the more avaricious countries to resort to such underhanded tactics.

“N-no. I was trying to make a picture but I couldn’t get it right so I was thinking really hard and then I fell through the floor.”

“Guren,” the Queen signaled, sharing a knowing look with the Commander. He only scowled deeper.

“I-Is my Mom here? C-can I see her now?”

“Sweet girl don’t fret, your Mom is still wherever you left her. She did not fall through our ceiling as well. You are from Earth, yes? What country are you from?”

Riley almost missed the question s , her brain stuck repeating the Queen’s words in her head on loop. Tears welled up again but she managed to blink them away before they could fall. She was thankful, at least, that the Queen seemed to be a patient person.  She was certainly nicer than the crabby man behind her. “I’m from America. U-um, Ma’am, where am I? ”

“This planet is of a similar ecosystem and atmosphere as your Earth but we are not in your solar system. We are not even in your dimension. It’s a wonder that you managed to summon a portal here; normally it would take a much larger amount of magic than one as small as you could muster. Though I doubt any of that makes sense to you. I am certain you are not here for any nefarious deeds so you are not in trouble. Your wounds have been mostly mended but you should take it easy for another day to let yourself finish healing,” Reina explained simply though the explanation left Riley blank as she tried to make heads or tails of the situation. _Ecosystem? Dimension? Portals!? Magic!?!?_ Riley’s head spun. _Is Luke playing pranks again? This seems too serious though… Maybe Mama was right and my imagination is wild._

“Queen, we should send her back immediately. The longer she is here-”

“Guren, we cannot send an injured child through a portal. You know how dangerous that is. It is only another day or so.”

“Mom is probably really mad at me. I should go now,” Riley tried to reason, returning her attention to the conversation. She was terrified that her Mom was out running around the neighborhood screaming her name. Even more so that when she returned she was definitely grounded for the rest of her life. Nobody would believe her that she fell through the floor into another world and met a Queen. Mom would just accuse her of having a wild imagination again and scold her for lying. _Maybe I’m dreaming again?_ She pinched herself, wincing when it hurt and she didn’t wake up.

“Time flows much differently here Riley, you haven’t been gone long enough for anyone to notice.”

It was a lot to take in for the young girl. She stood lamely in the midst of the hall, chewing her bottom lip nervously as she attempted to process everything. Though the Queen had assured her all was well the feeling of panic hadn’t gone away. How could it; she was currently stranded in another dimension at the mercy of a Queen and one ornery Commander who already threatened to chop off her legs.

The curtains adorning what she thought was a wall behind the throne rustled, seizing Riley’s attention and chasing away the fresh batch of tears about to spill. Was she just imagining it? They brushed aside slightly revealing three pairs of eyes. They were children her age and she gasped, recognizing them immediately.

“I know you,” she shouted in surprise. The familiarity was enough to scare away the panic for the moment and Riley’s eyes lit up. The threesome poked their heads out more revealing two boys and a girl about her age. Riley continued, nearly bouncing from excitement, “You’re Kei!” she pointed to the young girl with crimson hair. “You’re Zaiden!” She shifted her finger towards the tallest boy. “And you’re Korey” she finished, pointing to the last boy with unnaturally deep blue eyes. “I drew you. Mom said you weren’t real, you were my imaginary friends!" She shifted back to the woman on the throne, eyes sparkling with recognition. "Then… Then are you Queen Reina?”

Queen Reina was taken aback but gazed at the scene with a soft smile, nodding back at Riley before locking eyes with Guren. Guren shifted warily, his hand tightening around the hilt of his sword. It was more for his own comfort at this point. He could see it in the silver-haired woman’s eyes she had already taken to the little brat. _This is why I hate children._

“This is… this is so cool! I can’t believe it! You’re real! You’re all real! I saw you all in my dreams and I drew you and nobody would believe me that I wasn’t making you up in my head!”

The group of children, now called out from sneaking around, all scurried from their hiding place in the curtains approaching the foreigner with curiosity. Riley beamed, her previous anxiety melting away completely.

“That’s kinda weird, eh? You dreamed ‘bout us,” Korey wondered with a grin on his face. Riley shrugged back with a lopsided grin of her own.

“Just a bit, right,” Kei chimed in with a chuckle, elbowing Zaiden who nodded shyly, “So what’s your name then?”

“I’m Riley!”

As the children chattered, Guren shifted again uncomfortably before approaching the throne. He spoke lowly, “Are you sure it’s wise to allow her near them Reina? Despite her testimony can we really be sure she isn’t a spy?”

Reina laughed, dismissing his concerns with a wave. “You’re far too uptight Guren. Relax, she is just a child. Imagine where  _ you _ would be if we had been that wound up.”

“And you are far too trusting. You forget it is my job to see the danger in everything.”

“ I’ve heard your warning, Guren, and I choose to ignore it. You’ve done your job,” Reina replied ending the conversation with a smile and a finality in her tone. Guren huffed, shifting his attention back to the gaggle of noisy children.


End file.
